


Shane & Ryan Learn to Dance Cumbia • Weird Wonderful World

by RedLlamas



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment RPF
Genre: Boys in Skirts, Dancing, Dancing Lessons, Español | Spanish, Gen, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Injuries, Oral History, Teenagers, but like. professionally, cumbia - Freeform, everyone ships it, pero like lowkey, that's it. that's the entire fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:11:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26370151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedLlamas/pseuds/RedLlamas
Summary: "The world is weird!""And/or wonderful!""And I'm taking my curious little pal Ryan Bergara to explore every last bit of it.""Where are we going?""We're going to Estampas de Colombia!"
Relationships: Ryan Bergara & Shane Madej, Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 14
Kudos: 52
Collections: Weird And/Or Wonderful World: The Lost Season





	Shane & Ryan Learn to Dance Cumbia • Weird Wonderful World

**Author's Note:**

> Thank u, [Lexi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleopatraslibrary) for betaing!!!  
> The cumbia they dance to is "[Cumbia de Santo Domingo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9_p_QhDQyo)" por Los Cumbiamberos de Pacheco, and the song by the Minyo Crusaders is "[Cumbia del Monte Fuji](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy6No4Xuq_E)"

"The world is weird!"

"And/or wonderful!"

"And I'm taking my curious little pal Ryan Bergara to explore every last bit of it."

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to Estampas de Colombia!"

Estampas de Colombia – Stamps of Colombia – is a small studio located in East Los Angeles. It's a family-run business, with the founder being Doña Lucero, and is run by her daughter, Eliza. Eliza's own daughter, Valentina, is one of the dancers.

The studio is home to a dance troupe of the same name, and is currently made up of a group of six young girls, all hailing from Colombian heritage. The studio teaches a variety of traditional Colombian dances, which includes cumbia, bambuco, mapale, porro, guabina, salsa, currulao, amongst many others! Each dance has its own style of dress, so any dancer that joins ends up amassing many, many, many skirts and outfits. Eliza pulls out an array of dresses that typifies what each dance is supposed to look like.

After the dresses, Eliza introduces them to the girls. Their ages range from the youngest, seven, to the oldest, twenty-three. They’re visibly excited to be in the episode, and greet the boys and crew with much excitement.

The studio has a wall that is entirely covered in mirrors, and right in front of it is a magenta couch with a few throw pillows on it. There’s a bunch of bags strewn nearby, which they can only surmise as being the bags of the girls. The other side of the studio only has one small rectangular mirror that lets the girls see their faces. Shane stands in front of it, and makes Ryan laugh when Ryan’s the only one in frame, while Shane’s head clips off at the top.

Next to the mirror is a small table, and it has a few chairs by it. Against the wall are a few folded up chairs, and next to them is a door that leads… somewhere.

Shane and Ryan ask where they can do their talks, and Eliza suggests the couch. She asks one of the girls, Mariana, to bring some chairs over for them to sit.

“Why the chairs?” Shane asks.

“Because in interviews, they’re always facing each other, not sitting next to each other,” Eliza explains.

“That makes sense.”

With the chairs set up, Shane and Ryan sit in front of Eliza, who’s on the couch. Mark sets up the cameras to get their shots.

“So, tell us, Eliza, how did this all come to be?” Shane asks.

“Well, this all began many years ago when my mom, Lucero, said that she missed the dance festivals at home, in Colombia,” Eliza begins, “And how she wishes that my daughter, Valentina, could be able to participate in them. She had been a dancer, my mother, before moving here, and so she realized that she could actually set up a school, given all her knowledge of various dances, and she found this place, which actually has a living place upstairs!”

“You guys live here?” Ryan asks.

“Yes! Upstairs! If you noticed, outside with the main door, with the windows, there’s another door next to it, and that’s the door to the stairs to our home.”

“Ohh, neat!” Shane says.

“Like the Ghostbusters, with Melissa McCarthy, where their headquarters is above the Chinese food restaurant,” Ryan says. Eliza laughs and nods.

“Yeah, exactly like that!”

“Please, continue,” Shane says.

“So, my mom started the dance group, Estampas de Colombia, and she named it like that because this studio is supposed to teach the emblematic dances of our countries, hence  _ Estampas _ de Colombia. We teach the traditional dances of many regions, and we want to start expanding to the rest of the regions, so that the girls can have a well-rounded education on the dances of Colombia.”

“That sounds really nice, and do you guys, like… how do you find the dancers?” Ryan asks.

“We do performances in some local festivals or events, things like that, and we have flyers that promote our studio and our troupe, and we hand them out at the performances! Since this is mainly a Colombian dance studio, Los Angeles, and California in general, is more Mexican-dominated; while there’s a lot of Colombians here, it’s just harder to get the word out, especially here in east L.A.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Ryan says.

“Our group has grown and shrunk in size over the years, and we even had boys dance with us! But now we only have the girls, who we love, and which is fine! Tomorrow can always bring us a new integrator!”

“That’s us, right?” Shane asks, and Eliza smiles.

“Yes, exactly! You boys came here to become dancers! Come on, let’s start today’s lesson!” Eliza says, and gets up from the couch, motioning for the boys to do so as well. Shane takes the chairs back to where he found them, and comes back up to Eliza.

“Valery, come here,” she calls, and a young girl with a very high and curly ponytail comes over to join them. She smiles brightly at the boys.

“Valery is gonna be teaching you guys the cumbia, all the steps and the movements,” Eliza says, and Valery nods, already donning her rehearsal skirt.

“Are you teaching us because you’re the best?” Ryan asks, and Valery beams at that, puffing her chest out.

“Yes I am! I’m the leader!”

“You lead the group?”

“Yes! The lead dancer should be the one who has the best swing and the best discipline!”

“Oh, nice, we have the best dancer teaching us!” Shane says.

“Indeed!” Valery agrees, and holds out her hands, “Wait for a moment, I’m gonna get you guys some skirts.” And with that, leaves them to get them a pair of rehearsal skirts. When she comes back, she gives Shane a seafoam green skirt, and a soft brown one to Ryan. Shane slips his on easily, seeing as how it’s an elastic band. He raises it up to his waist, copying Valery’s skirt, but that makes it so that it only reaches up to his mid shin, unlike Valery’s which reaches the floor. She giggles at the sight of him.

“At least you won’t get it dirty! Less washing for me!” she says. Shane shrugs. 

Ryan’s skirt, though, is not an elastic band, and instead, has to be tied. He’s having difficulties tying it together, as it keeps slipping down as he tries to concentrate on one pair of strings then the other. The youngest girl, Carolina, comes up to him and helps tie the skirt, much to his resignation. Once done, Carolina went back to join the other girls with a thumbs up. Ryan’s skirt actually reaches the floor, and Valery claps at the sight. Ryan grins at that.

“Okay!” Valery begins, clapping her hands. “So the first thing that you guys will be needing to know is the basic cumbia step, which… mobilizes the entire thing? Yes. Anyways,” here she grabs the ends of her skirt to hold up so that they can look at her feet. “The cumbia step is basically just dragging your feet, or at least, that’s the shortcut I’ve been taking all this time!”

She takes a step to the left with her left foot, and moving her hips, makes her right foot drag after it, her right hip popping up a bit as she does so. She repeats it a few more times, before turning to them, and saying, “Now you try!”

Shane and Ryan go for their skirts, and Valery sorta shakes her head before deciding that it’s fine. Shane takes a small step, and bends his right knee so that he can tap it over to his left foot. He tries with this technique before stopping after his fourth step. Ryan, meanwhile, is moving his entire body, up with his step, then down when he glides his right foot over. Mark pans the camera back over to Valery, who is very consternated about the entire situation.

When the two are done, they look up at her, and she grimaces a smile.

“That good?” Shane jokes.

Valery lets out a chuckle. “Uh! Not… bad, for your first time. You guys have the idea, I know it’s weird to do at first, but you’ll eventually get the hang of it.” She moves to stand before Ryan, starting, “Ryan, try not to move your upper body now. It’s just moving your hips in the step.”

“Okay, just my hips,” Ryan repeats, then shakes his hips side to side, which makes them all laugh a bit. But Valery sobers up first, and firmly places her hands on his shoulders.

“Okay, do that again, but  _ don’t _ move your thorax.”

“His thorax?” Shane echoes.

“Oh, like, my torso?” Ryan tries.

“Yes, your torso. None of it should be moving,” she replies.

“Okay, I’m gonna… see if I can,” he says, then tries to do exactly that. He shakes his hips very carefully, visibly doing his best to not move his torso.

“Okay Ryan, you can stop now,” Valery says, moving away from him to stand next to Shane, to which Ryan laughs.

“It’s your turn now, big guy!”

Shane sticks his tongue out at him, but looks at Valery expectantly.

“The step is, you don’t take off your foot from the floor, or if you do, it’s very minimal. You also don’t, you can’t hunch over, okay? Don’t… don’t do that.”

Ryan wheezes at Shane’s admonished student look, who is just solemnly taking the gentle berating. He nods, and stands up just that bit straighter, but Valery pokes his chest so that he can stand at his full height, which he begrudgingly does. Valery steps back, and motions for him to step.

Shane takes a step, and makes sure to keep his foot low as he moves his right foot. It feels weird to be ramrod straight, so he slouches a bit on his next step. It looks jittery and forced, so Valery raises her hand to stop him.

“Shane, you can stop now,” she says, to which he sighs happily.

“I think we should actually take off our skirts, that way I can see exactly what it is that you guys are doing with your legs,” she says, already pulling her skirt down and stepping out of it. Shane easily slides out of his and hands it back to her, but Ryan is still having trouble with the ties on his, so Valery sets the skirts on the couch on the other side of the room, and comes back to help him with his. Once off, she drops it off on the couch, and comes back to them.

“This is what it’s all supposed to look like,” she says, and demonstrates the adequate technique. Step drag pop, step drag pop, step drag pop. She raises her hands and motions for them to do the same.

Ryan and Shane both humorously take a very big step to initiate the move, then each does their own version of the drag, Ryan with his ballerina sweep, and Shane with his dainty tap. They both then lean on their left leg to pop their hips dramatically.

Valery steeples her fingers, but she doesn’t look disappointed. In fact, she looks like she’s turning something over in her head. She separates her hands, and announces, “I think we should learn how to separate our bodies first.”

“I didn’t know they taught that here,” Shane quips, and Valery grins at that.

“Yes, we’re also known for our magic tricks. I’m actually gonna call Eliza over for this, she’ll help you with the basics,” she says, turning on her heel to fetch Eliza.

“Wow, can’t believe we’re so bad we couldn’t even pass level one,” Ryan says.

Shane shrugs, replying, “Guess we gotta Kung Fu Panda it.”

Valery comes back with Eliza in tow, and when they’re in center stage, Eliza calls over the rest of the troupe. They all organize themselves into three neat rows, with Valery pulling Ryan and Shane to the back row so that they can see what to imitate.

“We’re gonna be teaching these two young men how to separate their body parts!” Eliza explains, and receives giggles from the young girls.

“Now, we’re first gonna start with our heads, but without shaking our shoulders,” Eliza says, gently swaying her head from side to side. This seems a bit challenging, but not terribly so, and the ghoul boys do their best.

“ _ Now _ we can add our shoulders into the mix!” Eliza says, and so they all shake their shoulders. She continues down the body, to the elbows, the wrists, the hips, knees, ankles, and feet. Once their entire bodies are swaying, she announces, “Now we’re gonna stop our heads, but keep moving your shoulders.”

Ryan and Shane manage to do it fine, but as Eliza keeps calling out their body parts in descending order, they find it more difficult to keep each section separate. Ryan finally understands why Valery had said that he’s not supposed to move his torso. He does his best to follow her instruction, keeping his upper body still as he sways his hips side to side. When he looks over, Shane is trying to copy Valery as they now only move their knees, which looks hilarious, his knobby knees knocking together at every fifth sway. When he laughs, Valery leans over to look at him and pinch her face at him, which made him laugh more. Shane huffs between them.

Once their exercise is finished, Valery turns to her apprentices and asks, “Now can you move your hips only?”

“Yes,” Ryan answers, while Shane makes the so-so motion with his hand.

“Oh, Shane! You didn’t really stay upright!” Valery says, and calls to Eliza, “Eliza, él todavía no se puede parar bien.”

“Ah, tranquila que eso tiene fácil solución!” Eliza says, a conspiratorial smile on her face. “Come here, Shane, and you too Ryan,” she says, moving to the back wall. A knowing smile spread across Valentina's face. Carolina whispers something to her and Valentina replies in that same hushed tone, causing a laugh to erupt from Carolina. She covers her face with her hands to muffle it, but to no avail.

Hmm. Seems foreboding.

Shane and Ryan follow Eliza, and she tells them, “Stand against the wall,” and when they do, she comes over to inspect them, pushing them flush so that their backs are against the wall. She steps back, eyes them carefully before saying, “Now slide down so that you’re sitting against the wall.”

Ryan takes to this easily, seeing as how he’s a sporty guy. Shane takes a moment longer, and finally they are both seated against the wall, so that they’re only being held up by their own legs.

“Great, you’re now going to stay like this for a good ten minutes,” Eliza announces.

“What?!” Ryan squawks. He looks over incredulously at Shane, who can only give him a blank stare of grief.

“You’ll get five more minutes each time I catch you slouching!” she says, and they groan. The girls laugh at their misfortune, and now they must sit and wait for ten eternal minutes. As they do their best to sit with their backs straight, the girls sit down in front of them and look at them, as if they’ve never seen this before.

“How are you guys feeling?” Valentina asks, a smug grin still on her face.

“Nothing too bad so far,” Shane says, and Valentina nods at him.

“It never is at the beginning,” she says very cryptically. Now Shane is worried.

“Oh no,” he murmurs.

“What do you guys work as?” Nora asks.

“We started our own company, it’s called Watcher Entertainment, it’s on youtube,” Shane easily explains. He shifts his legs, and settles back. 

Nora goes up to get her phone, and while she does that, another one of the girls, Sheila, asks them, “What’s your company about?”

“Well, we want it to be where creators can come together and make a new show that people will like to see, the way that they want to,” Ryan explains. “We currently have nine shows, and one of them is called  _ Weird and/or Wonderful World _ , which is why we’re here.”

“In W.A.O.W.W., or ‘waow,’” Shane begins, doing his best Owen Wilson impression, “I take Ryan here to different places that people might not know about, like this dance hall, or a sorta haunted museum, or just go-karting.”

“Like on a date?” Sheila asks, and the other girls start giggling. The boys start squawking again, which makes them laugh more. Nora comes back with her phone in hand, and Ryan shakes his head, and slouches for a moment, trying to readjust himself against the wall.

“It’s not a date, it’s just! A tour!” Shane insists.

“Tours are with a bunch of people, and you didn’t come here with anyone else,” Karen points out.

“We came here with our camera guys!” Ryan cries, gesturing Mark, who waves from where he’s recording. They ignore him.

“I found their youtube!” Nora announces, and Valentina and Carolina lean over to look at her phone.

“Tours can be just one on one, anyway!” Ryan says.

“No they can’t. If it’s just two people on a tour, then there’d be the tour guide, too, and you guys just came here with your camera guys, but it’s really just you two,” Karen explains.

“That doesn’t mean that it’s a date, it just means that, if anything, we’re hosting a show! Like! The morning shows, where there’s two hosts, or the news, they’ve got co-anchors,” Shane insists. He’s getting red in the face.

“It’s like, Shane’s the host, and I’m just a special guest, I’m just here for the ride,” Ryan tries.

“Well, it still  _ looks _ like a date, but like, a weird one,” Sheila says.

“Why is it weird?”

“Because if you’re gonna take your boyfriend out to dance, you take them to a disco, not a school.”

“He’s not my boyfriend! This isn’t a date!” Shane says. The girls giggle at his reaction. Ryan just buries his face in his hands.

“Ah ah ah, Ryan! Five more minutes for the two of you!” Eliza shouts from the couch. Ryan looks up, and realizes that he slouched, and cries a little bit.

“See? Such a weird date.”

“It’s not a–! Whatever,” Shane huffs indignantly, crossing his arms. He slides a bit down the wall, and moves his feet farther out to keep himself up.

“Anyways, where are you guys from?” Valery asks.

“He’s from Chicago, and I’m from LA,” Ryan answers.

“Oh, okay. But, like… where are you guys  _ from? _ ”

Ryan looks at her. “What?”

“Like, look, obviously we’re all from here, LA, right, but we’re all from Colombia,” she clarifies.

“I’ve got Polish ancestry,” Shane says quietly.

“Cool! One time I had a Polish-Spaniard classmate in high school.”

“I’m Japanese-Mexican,” Ryan says.

“Oh, you’re Mexican!?” Valery asks, and suddenly, he’s got everyone interested. All the girls turn to look at him, and he doesn’t know what to do now.

“De que parte?”

“De Monterrey.”

“Oh, Monterrey, he escuchado que tienen muchas fiestas por ahí!” Valentina says.

“Creo que si,” Ryan says, Spanish heavily accented. “Nunca he estado.”

Valery’s smile quickly falls from her face, and is replaced by a frown. “You don’t know Spanish?”

“He’s fourth generation Mexican,” Shane explains.

A look of understanding falls upon the group of girls, and they go back to what they were doing, and Ryan suddenly feels like he disappointed them, so he quickly thinks of something to say to save himself.

“So! What part of Colombia are you from?” he asks, as if he knew anything about Colombia.

“I’m from Barranquilla,” Nora says.

“Me too!” Carolina adds.

“We’re from Cali,” Valentina says.

“I’m from Bogotá,” Karen says.

“The rest of us are from Medellín, but from different places,” Mariana says.

“Interesting. And, how long have you lived here?” Ryan continues.

“My mom and I have been living here for a few years now,” Valentina begins, “Carolina also just moved here, Nora’s been living here for five years now, and I think everyone else was born here.”

“Oh, okay. So… you all speak Spanish, huh?”

Shane shakes his head to himself, which made Carolina giggle.

“We even have accents! You ever hear a Colombian accent?” Valery asks.

“I guess only in those videos where people imitate everyone’s accents.”

“Well, guess what! The accent you tend to hear in those videos is actually the accent from my part of the country!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! We’re from the department of Antioquia, and since it’s right on the mountain, we’re called paisas. And our accent is very particular, it’s sing-song, and is the most easily recognizable since we’re everywhere.”

“Wait, how do you mean everywhere?” Shane asks.

“Paisas are the most adventurous of the Colombians!” Valery says, spreading her arms. “You can find a paisa anywhere in the world. In one of these last World Cups, in like, 2014? Or 2018, they asked these Colombians where they came from, and they said Iceland! And when they spoke, you could tell it was a paisa accent.”

“Colombians in Iceland?” Ryan asks, then turns to Shane. “You didn’t come across any when you were there?”

“You were in Iceland?” Mariana asks.

“Yes, and it was  _ beautiful _ ,” Shane replies. “And no, I don’t think I came across any Colombians, or paisas, in the wild.”

“Did you guys see the last World Cup, in Russia?” Valery asks.

“I did,” Ryan says.

“Okay, well, any match that Colombia was in, Colombian fans always were local, did you notice that?”

“‘Local’? What does that mean?”

“Like, they showed up in numbers that made it seem like they were the local team playing. The stadiums were always pure yellow.”

“Oh yeaaah, you guys are very passionate! I really liked that, how you guys always show up for your country.”

“Yeah!” Valery agrees, smiling again. “Oh, you know, Shane, Colombia actually squared off against Poland in that World Cup!”

“Oh, really?” he asks. He smiles appreciatively at that.

“Yes! We beat your butt!”

Shane laughs at that. “I’m sure you guys did. You guys have very good players, like… James? Rodriguez, am I saying his name right?”

“No, it’s Ha-mes, not  **J** ames,” Karen explains. “In Spanish, the letter J sounds like the letter H in English.”

“James Rodriguez, he’s good,” Shane repeats.

“So, anyways, yeah, the accent you’ll most likely hear as the ‘Colombian accent’ is gonna be the paisa accent. Which, I guess is for the best, since every department has their own accent.”

“Oh, just like here, with the Midwestern accent, and the Southern accent, and all that,” Ryan says.

“Yeah, but the difference is that in Colombia, it’s not by region, but really by the department. You have to think about how Colombia, while still very big, is smaller than the U.S.”

Ryan nods. “Yeah, that checks out.”

Eliza comes over, clasping her hands. “Alright, time’s up! You guys can now try to stand up!”

Ryan and Shane brace themselves against the wall to stand up again, and when they do, they both immediately groan at the sudden back pain. They try to slouch, but find that they have to keep their backs straight so as to not exacerbate the pain.

“There we go, now you can start dancing like real professionals!” Eliza says, smiling wide.

“You guys had to do this?” Shane asks.

“It’s not that bad,” Valentina assures. “You guys only sat for fifteen minutes. I’ve had to go longer than that.”

“Why, for sports or something?” Ryan asks.

“No, because Eliza’s my mom,” she explains.

“Oh, well, that checks out, mothers do tend to put the most stress on their kids,” Ryan surmises. Valentina can only shrug.

“Now, let’s try to dance again, okay?” Eliza says, moving back to stand at the front of the room. The girls stand up and move back into their lines, with Shane and Ryan groaning their ways back to the back. Valery beams up at Shane.

“What,” he grunts out.

“Your back is gonna be straight again! As it should be,” she says. Why did that sound ominous?

“Okay, Thanos.”

Eliza then makes them try to move their hips and knees again. This time, their backs are straight, which makes the entire step look better. No swing in their hips yet, but at least they’re starting to look the part. Eliza even gave them a gracious nod, which they took as a sign of improvement.

“Let’s see your cumbia slide,” she says, and Ryan and Shane look to Valery.

“Since I’m the leader, you guys should try to copy me,” she tells them, and begins the basic level one step, stepping with her left foot and dragging her right foot, then taking a beat, and doing it again. Ryan and Shane have a better handle on it now, but still bounce at the wrong beats.

Eliza, also doing the step, starts dancing towards the side of the room, and motions for the girls to follow her. They all start to follow her in a line, and Valery tows the boys behind her as they make rounds around the room. Now that Eliza is at the beginning, and Ryan at the end, she starts nitpicking at him. She pokes his back, reminding him to stand up straight, and even holds onto his hips and forces him to swing them more. Ryan flushes, and the girls laugh at his reaction. Valery looks back at him, and gives him a cheeky grin.

Eliza stops the dance circle by floating back to her spot at the front of the class, and the girls all line back perfectly. When Valery stops, though, Shane stops just short of her, but makes Ryan bump into him. Shane swats him away, and they momentarily swat at each other before Valery swats Shane’s arm to get them to stop.

“I think that’s enough practicing the basics! Niñas, vengan y enséñeles la cumbia que hemos estado aprendiendo,” Eliza commands, and moves to the side as the girls break formation and go to the sides of the room, picking up their skirts and putting them on. Valery goes to the couch and brings back their skirts, once again helping Ryan with his ties.

The girls get into initial position, making two lines, one on each side, all facing the back wall. They had grabbed the ends of their skirts, and raised their outwards arm up above their head, and the innermost up to their chest, making their skirts cascade around them. Eliza goes to the boombox on the table next to the couch, and tells the boys, “You guys can sit down and watch. But pay attention, because you’re gonna have to do what they’re doing!”

“Oh no, I didn’t realize we were gonna do an entire choreography,” Ryan says, worried.

“Eh, it’s fine, it’s not like it can be that hard,” Shane reassures him.

Eliza presses “play” on her boombox, and the sound of drums being rhythmically tapped fills the studio, quickly followed by the güira. The beginning notes are their cue, and once the güira starts playing, the girls all start to glide to their opposite sides, seamlessly passing through each other when they meet in the middle. Once the accordion starts, they stay in place and raise their arms in a wide arc, their skirts draping from their hands. At the change of the beat, they tilt the arc to the right, then to the left, before settling back into their original position, and softly twisting their bodies so that their arms can face the front of the room, turning to the other side, then back again. When the accordion picks up, they clasp their hands together, making their skirts bunch, and the girls on either side switching positions.

At the switch of the beat, they spread their arms, making their skirts fly open. They start gliding to their lefts, with the girl closest to the front, Karen, bringing her left hand to her hip, and her right hand before her head, making the cloth swish into place. She stepped to the middle of the stage, facing the back, and the girls coming after her also made the swishing motion when they reached that same spot. There are now three girls in the center, all facing the back in a triangle formation, and when Valentina reaches them, instead of just facing the back, she twirls in place. When the accordion changes beats again, the four girls twirl to face their center and spread their arms, making a circle with their skirts, and begin stepping to their left.

The song has a few words, but thanks to that, they work as cues, so when the Cumbiamberos sang, “Upa upa upa, upa upa ha, upa upa upa que la cumbia va empezar,” the girls brought their arms together as they twirled to face the exterior of their circle, and spread their arms again to connect their skirts. The song emitted a call, and the girls began to deform their circle into a diagonal line. They stepped in place a moment before slowly spinning around. The song had quieted down, and when the drums came back, they raised their arms above their heads and glided to the front. At the accordion’s change of beat, they made a half-turn and began walking to the back, shaking their hands so that their draping skirts could shake. The accordion pitched lower when they reached the back, and they turned back to shake their skirts in front of them, moving forwards as they did so.

When the accordion stopped shrilling, and went back to the song’s rhythm, they twirled in place, and brought their arms above their heads. The accordion echoed a rhythm, and with each echo, the girls first brought their right arms to the side, then back to the center, and now their left arm to the side. With the drumming of the drums, they shook their hands as they twirled in place, the accordion cuing them to start gliding to the right, and they began to make a small rectangle, all the while shaking their hands. As the song came to an end, they twisted their bodies to lower their right hands to the audience and curtsy, and then brought their arms up again to shuffle off to the left. The song ended, and the girls dispersed, walking back to the front of the class.

During the entire dance, Ryan and Shane  _ had _ done their best to follow along, carefully eyeing the way the girls had moved their arms and shuffled their feet, even going so far as to miming them from their seats on the couch. Mark had definitely gotten a good shot of them accidentally slapping each other’s face when they arced their arms to the side. They had enthusiastically clapped when the girls ended, which the girls smiled at.

Eliza clapped her hands, and turned to the boys. “Now it’s your turn!”

“What, now?” Ryan squawked, hesitantly getting up. Shane was already striding to stand to one side of the stage. “Alone?” He stood awkwardly next to the couch, hands picking at his skirt.

“Yes, that’s what you came here for!” Eliza explained, setting her boombox again. The girls that had just danced took their spots on the couch, and waited eagerly for the boys to copy them.

“We’re not even gonna get a guide? Valery?” Ryan asks, making his way to the opposite side of the stage. He looks at Valery pleadingly, and she looks at Eliza. Eliza thinks for a moment, quirking her mouth to the side.

She then makes a decision.

“No! A true dancer can pick up nearly everything in choreography in a first go! So, show us what you retained!” She motions at them to get in position. Ryan has his arms in position, and his skirt drapes around him nicely. Shane, however, looks very funny with his high skirt and long arms. His skirt drapes as it should, but the effect is lost for how much of his legs they can still see. The girls giggle at him.

“And one, two, three, four,” Eliza counts before hitting playing, and the drums start rapping. Ryan jumps into action immediately, not exactly dragging his feet but hopping sideways to where Shane is, and Shane is startled into copying him, hitting him with his skirt as they pass each other in the middle. They now stand in place, and when the accordion begins, they thrust their arms out, and start swaying them from side to side.

“Your hips!” Eliza calls, and they remember to keep their hips in movement. The girls hadn’t stopped swaying their hips when they had performed, and so they will try to not to either.

Shane twists around and strikes a pose, and draws some laughs from the girls. When the accordion starts its rhythmic part, the boys clap their hands and shimmy down the floor and back up again, clearly having no true concern for hitting the audio cues correctly.

The accordion pitched, and Ryan knew that he should be doing something, when it finally hit it. “Oh, Shane, the circle thing!” he called out, already spreading his arms and hopping hurriedly over to Shane, effectively speeding him up. Shane jumped from spot to spot to get ahead of Ryan, swishing his skirts in front of him.

As they slowed down, Shane said, “The triangle.”

“Oh yeah, you do the triangle, I’ll do the spinny thing,” Ryan said, and proceeded to do exactly that, putting one hand on his hip while the other stretched before him as he spun in place. When he faced Shane, he spread his arms and they both circled each other, and when the Cumbiamberos sang, they crossed their arms when Shane tried to spin to face the other direction, making the girls laugh and them flush. Ryan squatted, and spun low while swishing his own skirts to avoid the rest of Shane’s limbs and skirts.

The accordion sped up, and Ryan let out a panicked, “Oh no!” before getting back to his feet, and hurrying to ruffle his skirts in time with the quick tempo. Shane starts vogueing as he makes his sweet way to the front, clearly having abandoned the quest for true cumbia dancing. They zig-zag past each other, and the girls giggle at their antics.

When the accordion slows down again, Ryan is standing at the front of the stage, but Shane is still at the back, so he goes over and pulls him to the front, making Shane laugh.

Ryan begins moving his arms, and Valery calls out to them, “Your hips!”

“Damnit!” Ryan curses, then winces as he remembers who’s in the room. Shane wheezes at his reactions, languidly moving his own arms. Ryan looks at him, and bumps his hip against Shane’s, reminding him that he should also be swaying his hips. Shane shrugs, and does the bare minimum before spinning in place, which Ryan readily copies. They managed to bring their arms up above their heads and shake their skirts in time, and they began to shift to the side, up, and to the left, make a half-spin, and curtesy. They shuffled off stage, and the music ended.

They look at the ladies in the front of the room, and seem really proud of themselves.

“Well? How’d we do?” Shane asks.

Eliza sighs wearily, making the girls burst into giggles.

“You guys didn’t exactly get it all right, but!” Eliza begins, “I could see that you were  _ really _ trying, and that’s really the whole point of this, the spirit of wanting to dance, to perform good, and be able to make a performance that everyone will enjoy, and that  _ you _ will enjoy as well. For a first time, it was an okay performance.”

“Alright, we did an okay performance!” Ryan cheers. “Up top!” he tells Shane, and they share a sick high-five.

“Do any of you have anything to say about their performance?” Eliza asks the girls now. Nearly all of them raise their hands, and Eliza points at Sheila.

“You guys forgot to move your hips for like, the entire song,” she says. The other girls agree.

“I have an excuse for that, actually,” Shane starts. “I’m a white guy, and white people, as you know, have no rhythm.” That makes them laugh.

“I don’t have an excuse, I’ve been to so many family reunions with my Mexican cousins, and I just haven’t been able to learn how to dance,” Ryan says.

“But you actually knew some cumbia steps!” Valery pipes up.

“Really? But this is the first time I’ve danced cumbia.”

“No, yeah, I know, but this is  _ Colombian _ cumbia. You made a Mexican cumbia step.”

“There’s Mexican cumbia?”

“You didn’t know about Mexican cumbia?!”

Ryan and Valery stare at each other, mouths open in shock and dismay, respectively. Shane quirks his eyebrows at the situation, and a few of the girls try to hide their snorts.

Valery recovers first, shaking her head, and sitting up straight. “So anyways, you guys managed to keep your backs straight for the most part, which is very good.”

The boys nod at that. Valentina raises her arm, and when Eliza nods at her, she says, “When you guys were ruffling your skirts, you were moving from your elbows, when you only gotta move from your wrists.” She demonstrates, holding her elbows still as she shook her hands. Ryan and Shane instinctively copied her, visually thinking hard to keep their elbows still.

“You guys couldn’t move your feet correctly, either,” Mariana adds on.

“Did we do anything correctly?” Shane asks.

The girls think for a moment.

“You guys did hold your arms correctly!” Nora says.

“Yes! Very straight when it was supposed to be, and you curved your arms the way you’re supposed to when you were supposed to!” Karen agrees.

Ryan and Shane hum appreciatively at that. At least they got that part right.

Eliza checks her watch. “I think that’s it, any last thoughts?” Eliza asks the girls, who shake their heads. She starts to look back at the boys when Valery speaks again.

“Would you guys like to hear about the history of cumbia?”

“Oh, yes! Please!” Ryan says, enthusiastic at the thought.

“Great! But, like, now or later?”

“I think that later, we can get a one-on-one with you, if you’d like, if that’s okay?” Shane says, looking at Eliza and their team for the go-ahead.

“I think it’s fine,” Eliza begins, but then turns to Valery, “Ay, ¿y si te demoran? Nancy siempre llega a tiempo.”

“Ah, cuando llegue, le diremos que’s lo que vamos a hacer,” she replies.

“Okay, bueno, chicos por ahora estaremos en stand-by,” Eliza tells the boys. She closes her eyes and claps, then repeats, “We’re gonna be on stand-by for now. Valery’s mom always gets here on time, and class is almost over, so we’re gonna check with her in case you guys take long.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s totally fine!” Shane assures.

“Or if not today, then could they come back another day?” Valery asks.

Eliza shrugs. “I don’t have a problem with that.”

“Great! We’ll be able to get a history lesson either way!” Ryan says, then looks up at Shane, “Isn’t that great?”

“Yes, it is! I’m actually genuinely excited to hear about cumbia’s history,” Shane says.

“Alright, well, class is over now, so, niñas, vayan alistandose,” Eliza says. The girls get up from their seats and go to their respective bags strewn across the room. Valery gets up and helps Ryan take off his skirt, and takes her skirt back from Shane. She gives the brown skirt back to Eliza, puts her skirts into her bag, and sits on the couch. Shane and Ryan are left standing there, so they go over to their team and just hang with them.

They hear a car pull up quickly enough, and soon enough, an older Latina woman with bright golden hair enters the studio.

“Ay, hola!” she tells the boys and their crew. She steps towards Eliza and Valery, greeting them in Spanish. It seems that she’s Valery’s mom, because the three talk about Valery staying for a bit more to tell the boys the story of cumbia, to which Nancy enthusiastically agrees. Valery gets up from the couch and skips over to the boys, wide grin on her face.

“My mom says we can do the lesson now!”

“Fantastic! Let’s… where do we sit for this?” Ryan asks.

“I can sit on the couch, and you guys can sit on the floor?” she suggests, grinning at the ridiculousness of the idea. “We can get the chairs from earlier back.”

“I’ll go get them!” Shane offers, and off he goes to ask Eliza for them again. Valery goes to sit on the couch, but stops and turns to Ryan.

“Would you like to meet my mom?”

“Oh, yes!”

“Phenomenal! Come on!”

Now with Ryan in tow, she tugs her mom’s sleeve, and says, “Mami, te quiero presentar a uno de los chicos miedosos, de los que te conté. Este es Ryan.

"Ryan, this is my mom, Nancy," Valery says, motioning to her mom. She's a big lady, with a very kind face, and hair that shines gold under the studio lights.

"Hola! Mucho gusto en conocerlo," Nancy says, holding out her hand for him to take.

"Hola, soy Ryan, igualmente," Ryan responds. Shane comes up with the chairs, and Ryan waves him over.

"Y este es mi amigo, Shane, Shane come over here for a sec," Ryan says.

Shane comes back with an amiable smile, setting the folded up chairs on the floor, and shakes Nancy’s hand. "Hola señora," he says.

"Tu marido? Hola!" After that, Shane picks up the chairs again and sets them up. Nancy touches Ryan's shoulder with a smile, and talks to her daughter a bit more before leaving them to go stand with Eliza.

Ryan is confused about what she said, so he asks Valery about it. "What did she say? Marido?"

Valery cracks a grin. "Oh, she said that I think because of your accent, when you said amigo."

"Okay, but… what does it mean?"

"It means husband."

Ryan gasps. "What!"

"Yeah, she thinks Shane's at least your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? What, why if the word is husband?"

"Uh, it has to do with Colombian linguistics and connotations. So, if a couple, the girlfriend refers to her boyfriend as husband, it's inferred that he's her only. Like, man, I don't know how exactly to explain it."

Ryan is consternated. Valery goes to sit on the couch. Ryan goes to sit next to Shane on the chairs.

The Watcher crew moves their cameras into place for Valery’s history lesson. Once set-up, Mark gives them the thumbs up, and starts rolling.

“How do… I begin? Like, do you guys need an intro?” Valery asks.

“You can intro us by asking if we want to hear about the history of cumbia again,” Shane suggests.

“Okay! So: do you guys wanna hear the story of cumbia?”

“Of course!” Ryan replies.

“Really? Because I’m gonna be going into extreme detail on this,” Valery alerts them, a grin starting on her lips.

“The good thing about this is that we’re freaks, and we’re into extreme historic detail,” Shane replies.

“Great! So!” Valery begins, wide smile on her face. “The story of cumbia begins with the unforgettable trans-Atlantic slave trade. The thing about Colombian music is that it’s all very African in origin, and this can be seen in the dances that sprang up from it. The slaves that were brought over, they brought with them their sense of rhythm and sound. In African rhythm, they don’t have the seven scales like the Europeans, but instead have five scales, called pentatonic scale. This lets them play around with their music more. So, when this pentatonic scale arrived in Colombia, along with their drums, it immediately made an impact in the local music, the indigenous tradition and the African tradition mixed. The traditional dance that’s still very African in nature is the mapale, and its dance is very visually ‘African.’

“So, in cumbia specifically, the drums are the basic beat for all the songs. The other iconic instruments for cumbia are the accordion and this instrument we call the raspa. With the raspa, it’s basically this metal cylinder with bumps along its side, and you take this… prong?” she tries, and begins miming playing the instrument as she continues, “And you scratch the sides of the cylinder with the teeth of the prong, making a scratching noise, it sounds like: khiss khiss khiss.”

“Oh, didn’t we hear that in the song we just danced?” Ryan asks.

“Yeah, exactly! So, we’ve got a really percussive beat in all of cumbia. So anyways, cumbia came from the coast, and it was incredibly successful with the poor people, and the rich people didn’t like it very much. So when it migrated into the interior of the country, everyone started falling in love with it, and it’s become a staple of Colombian tradition, so much that today there’s hundreds of festivals for it.

“Now, cumbia is very good party music, you hear it every New Year’s party, or at Christmas, or at any family gatherings. In Colombia, when they were starting to diffuse it throughout the rest of the country, they began making records, and thus bringing it to all social classes. And it didn’t just hit the social classes, it also hit in Peru. Peruvian cumbia is very… poor as well.”

Shane snorts at that, and Ryan and Valery also start giggling. Shane brings a hand to his face, trying to stop laughing at the turn of phrase.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, it’s just that hearing that Peruvian cumbia, or I guess cumbia in general, is poor is really funny,” he explains.

“It is! Don’t worry! All cumbia is poor, it’s the poor man’s music!” Valery assures him.

“But why is cumbia poor?” Ryan asks.

“Cumbia is poor because it’s always been taken up by the poor. In Colombia, it was made by the poor native and black people. In Peru, it was taken up by the andean Peruvians, who tend to be poor. When it migrated to Argentina, it was  _ heavily _ associated with the poor people, and going up the isthmus, it’s always been for the poor people. Cumbia had a really great time in Mexico because it was immediately taken up and transformed into something for everyone, but as you know, it’s still poor.

“Continuing where we left off, in Peru, they added the electric guitar to the cumbia sound, and is where the tecnocumbia genre came from. Peruvian cumbia, which is referred to as chicha, really sprang up and flourished during the ‘50s and ‘60s, and thanks to the electric guitar, made it more palatable to everyone else. It went down to Bolivia and Chile, and up to Panama and Costa Rica, and it’s in Costa Rica that things get interesting – also, fun sidenote, I’m half Costa Rican!”

“Oh, neat! So we get a two-for-one deal with you,” Shane jokes, and Valery beams at that.

“Yeah! Okay so, one very big cumbia subset is Argentinian cumbia, and the only reason why there even  _ is _ Argentinian cumbia is because of these two college students who were in Costa Rica during the ‘50s, and the story goes that they were hanging out in the plaza by their college, and they were listening to a band play cumbia tica, and they vibed with it so much that they thought, ‘Hey, we should take this everywhere.’ So they did, they went to Buenos Aires, and they went to the university there, and started actually playing cumbia in that plaza, and people liked it so much that they immediately took to it.

“Now, the thing about cumbia in Buenos Aires is that it was mostly played by college students, and the thing about Argentina – and I say this with all the brotherly love I can give – Argentina has been a major hellhole these past few decades. Lots of internal strife, guerrillas, massacres, you name it.”

“Jesus,” Shane says, wincing.

“Yeah, it’s awful. There’s this plaza in Buenos Aires, called the Plaza de Mayo, and there was this entire revolution done there, for like, weeks on end, and there’s also the whole ‘mothers of the Plaza de Mayo’ thing where these mothers and grandmothers would gather there, and wear white scarves, in protest against the military dictatorship for stealing their children and grandchildren.”

“Oh my God,” Ryan says, harrowed expression on his face. “What the fuck?!”

Valery wearily nods. “Yeah. The grandmas and the moms still gather there to this day, because while a lot of lost children have been recovered, a bunch of protestors, their kids who were teens or young adults, they’re dead, and the government hasn’t responded for it.”

A grim silence befalls them.

“So you can imagine how cumbia was used during this time! College students and other young adults started making cumbia protest songs, and cumbia started being associated with rebellion, protests, et cetera, and after the worst of the political things happened, cumbia started being taken up by the poor who lived in the slums of Buenos Aires, and the rest of Argentina, and that’s when cumbia started being associated with the bad life of Argentina. Argentinian cumbias are referred to as villeras, and are now more… integrated into general Argentinian music.

“After its smashing hit in Argentina, cumbia travelled all the way up to Mexico, where it was basically given a new life and identity. Mexicans really took to cumbia, and while Mexican cumbia, the dance style is still pretty close to Colombian cumbia, they – okay, the thing about Mexico is that they’re  _ incredibly _ tied to their traditions, something which I really respect and love. Mexico is a  _ very _ old nation, with an incredibly rich and detailed history, and they’ve been through so much, and the fact that they’ve held on steadfastly to their ancient traditions and customs and all that, is really impressive and is a testament to the Mexican people’s spirit and determination.”

“Thank you,” Ryan says, and Valery giggles. Shane good-naturedly slaps his arm.

“No, yeah, absolutely!” Valery agrees. “So, as I was saying, since Mexico is so close to its traditions, when cumbia arrived, they, naturally, danced it differently than Colombians or Argentinians or whatever, right? Makes sense, so in Mexican cumbia, the way they dance it is very different to Colombian cumbia, it’s more… autochthonous.”

“Auto-what?” Shane asks.

“Autochthonous. Like, native, indigenous to an area.”

“Oh, okay, continue.”

“Yeah, so, like: okay. Someone said, ‘I bet you can’t dance to this in quicktime,’ and Mexico said, ‘hold my Corona,’ and proceeded to do exactly that. You guys dance cumbia as if it’s a ritual, it’s very fast, and you guys have incorporated some native dance steps into it. You guys switched out Colombian steps for Mexican steps, which, fair, but it makes for a very interesting performance. And that’s  _ just _ popular cumbia, don’t even get me started on lowbrow cumbia.”

“There’s lowbrow cumbia? According to everything you’ve just told us, isn’t all cumbia lowbrow?” Shane pipes up.

“Well, yeah, technically, but! Mexico is the king of lowbrow stuff, and here’s no different.”

“Hey!” Ryan squeaks. Valery grins at his reaction.

“C’mon, Ryan,” she teases.

“Yeah, Ryan,” Shane adds. Ryan just sighs, shaking his head.

“Yeah, lowbrow Mexican cumbia, called cholo cumbia, is a lot more native than regular Mexican cumbia. First off, the guys and the girls dance differently than popular Mexican. The girls’ dance is closer to Colombian cumbia, swaying their hips and stepping in place, meanwhile the dudes kinda squat down and spread their arms behind them, kinda like eagles, and dance in small circles. That’s actually what you did, Ryan.”

Ryan seems impressed. “Really?”

“Yeah! It was this move, hold on,” she says, then gets up and stands off to the side where there’s more room. She squats down and starts dancing in a circle, moving her arms in a rhythmic in-out style, bringing them out behind her, then bringing them close to cross, and out once more in a way that juts out her elbows, then straightens them out again. She straightens up again, and sits back down on the couch.

Ryan looks at her, points at where she was just squatting, and asks, “I did that?”

“Yeah, more or less. You were swishing your skirts, though, instead of doing those arm movements.”

“Huh, interesting.”

“Yeah! It’s very Aztec in nature. To be honest,  _ everything _ in Mexican culture is Aztec in nature. It’s just Aztec all the way down.”

“So I was channeling my ancestors when I was freaking out just then?” Ryan asks, a smile on his face.

“Yeah, you could say that! If you’ve ever seen an Aztec dance, then you’d know what I mean when I call Mexican cumbia indigenous… have you watched Aztec dancing before?”

“...No.”

“You should get on that. And also Mexican cumbia. Actually, take a general dancing class, because you’re Latino, and you gotta represent us correctly when you’re Out There.”

Ryan laughs, and nods. “Will get on it, prof.”

Valery smiles. “Okay, back on topic, cumbia made a big hit in Mexico, especially in the northern part, where the norteño music is really big, still is to this day, and when norteño music and Colombian cumbia mixed, they made Mexican cumbia! Mexican cumbia even has a subset of norteño cumbia, and nowadays cumbia in general is mostly danced in the northern parts of Mexico and Texas, and is so ingrained in Mexican culture as a whole that a lot of them have forgotten that it’s originally Colombian! Like, an example of this is everytime I look at the comments on a cumbia song, it’s like 80% Mexicans saying ‘incredible song, much love from Mexico!’ or ‘love partying to this in Monterrey,’ or something like that.”

Valery takes a beat, then suddenly, “Oh! Ryan! You’re from Monterrey, you must’ve known about all this! At least on a subconscious level!”

“I’m not sure I did. I didn’t even know about cumbia before Shane told me about this place,” Ryan answers bashfully.

“Well, now you do! If you do go to a dance class, you could bring Shane along! I’m sure that’d be a better date than today, because then you’d actually dance  _ with _ each other instead of next to each other,” Valery says, a grin making her eyes crinkle.

Ryan is about to say something, but her words make him stop short, so he just sighs glumly. Shane shakes his head, drags his hand down his face.

Ryan nods half-heartedly. “Yeah, I guess that  _ would _ be a better date than today.” Valery laughs at their reactions.

“So!” Valery says, patting her thighs. “I guess that’s it, then! Mexico was cumbia’s last pit-stop, and it’s been a successful hit since it did. Cumbia is now enjoyed by all of the Americas, and thanks to Colombians immigrating everywhere, now everyone can enjoy cumbia! The other day, I was listening to this Japanese cumbia song by a band called the Minyo Crusaders!”

“Oh, wow, that’s really cool!” Ryan says, sitting up at that.

“You know, Ryan’s also half Japanese,” Shane adds.

“Really? That’s so cool! Are– wait, do you know… any Japanese at all?” Valery asks warily.

Ryan has to Look At Her as he answers, “No.”

She accepts it as one does the inevitability of death, slowly nodding to herself as she makes a face that tells him that she expected this, and he feels sad at disappointing her.

“Well… that’s okay, I guess,” she says, and Ryan dies a little bit inside. Shane, it seems, is laughing at their consternations, wheezing quietly to himself.

Valery gets out of her funk first, and smiles warmly at the boys. “Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the lesson!”

“Yes, we absolutely did, thank you so much for taking the time to explain to us, in great detail, the history of cumbia,” Shane thanks, holding his hands together and bowing them to her. Valery also namastes.

“We learned a lot, and I’m not sure all of it’s gonna stay in my noggin, but I enjoyed it nonetheless,” Ryan adds, getting a laugh out of her.

“Phenomenal! That’s all I wanted out of this, that you guys had fun! Thank you for letting me ramble on about cumbia, and for teaching you guys how to dance it, and I’m sorry if I was harsh on you guys.”

Shane shakes his head, waving his hand, saying, “Oh, it’s nothing. We get yelled at by teachers all the time. You barely raised your voice at us.”

“Though, this  _ was _ the most easygoing yet terribly panic-inducing class I’ve ever taken,” Ryan adds.

“That’s how it is in showbusiness, baby!” Valery jokes, then cringes at herself. “I’m sorry for saying ‘baby,’ it was for comedic effect.”

“We completely understand,” Shane assures. “So, thank you once again, and I guess now we’re gonna go soak ourselves in ice.”

Ryan and Valery laugh.

“Alrighty, have fun on your recovery!”

Shane laughs, then reaches over to shake Valery’s hand, and Ryan does the same. They get up and Shane takes the chairs back to where they were stored. Valery gets her bag and walks over to her mom, and they leave the studio, saying their last goodbyes to the others still there.

Valery actually comes over to hug them goodbye, and whispers, “My name’s actually Raí! I had to tell someone, and since you guys are probably never coming back, you guys are safe!”

Ryan starts at that. “Oh my God, I’m sorry? To hear that?”

Raí shrugs, smile not leaving her – or their? – face. “It’s okay! The ambient isn’t there for me yet, but! You guys are, and that’s enough for me!”

Once several of the girls get picked up by their parents, Shane and Ryan sit on the couch to record their final comments.

“Well, Ryan, what did you think?” Shane asks.

“This was one hell of a workout, but it was worth it,” Ryan begins. “We got to hang out with up and coming young talent, we made fools of ourselves on stage, and we got a history lesson that I don’t think Bill Wurtz could top.” Shane chuckles at that. “All in all, wonderful experience. Thank you, once again, for taking me here.”

“No problem, my friend, and hey! We both got us-specific things out of this: you got a workout, and I got a history lesson! Isn’t that swell?” Shane asks, smiling at Ryan.

“Oh yeah! Something for everyone here!”

“Guess it’s time to hit the showers now, huh,” Shane asks.

“Yeah, let’s,” Ryan says.

They get up and off the couch. Mark stops recording, and gives them a thumbs-up. The boys and the crew thank Eliza for her time and studio, and leave the studio, piling into their car. Katie gets behind the driver’s seat, and pulls onto the road. Ryan and Shane are in the backseat, and Ryan’s trying very hard not to breathe in too deeply. They stink, and he really wants to take a shower.

On the drive to their homes, Ryan thinks about why he felt bad about disappointing Raí. They didn’t know each other, and they still don’t. Is it because of their commanding voice? Some part of him that associates that with his mom? Maybe. As the crew is being left off one by one, he lets his mind wander, and thinks about what they asked him, and how they reacted. They seemed to be disappointed in him more because of his cultural stance than his dancing. He frowns to himself. Is it because they’re so close to their own culture, and thus is jarring to see him be so distant from his?

That might be it, but he’s not sure how to feel about it. Sure, he does Mexican things, and the occasional Japanese thing, but it’s not like he’s up to date with the news on either country, or listens to regional artists, or even knows the slang. But he feels alright in that, how he’s approached his own background over the years. And Raí is also alright in how they’ve approached their own background. Just different styles. He’s even sure they were just pulling their leg most of the time.

Even with this in mind, he  _ does _ let the thought of taking an actual dance class linger in his mind. It would honestly do him some good, all his aunts and cousins would stop picking on him for not knowing his left foot from his right, and he could even wow his dates when he’d finally take them out dancing. And, hey! He could finally go dancing.

He looks over at Shane, who’s clearing his phone of notifications. He looks back out the window, feels his cheeks burn.

It wouldn’t be a date just because of what Raí said, or what any of the girls said. Asking your friend to accompany you to a new thing because you’re not sure you could handle going at it alone is perfectly reasonable excuse, and it wouldn’t be a date because it’s just a favor between friends.

_ You could go dancing with him _ , his mind says, and he promptly takes that out of his head. He won’t go out dancing with Shane because  _ then _ it would be a date, and it’s not like Shane would want to go on an actual date with him, right?

Ryan looks back to Shane, and clears his throat.

“You know, Raí’s right, we should probably go to an actual dance class,” he says.

Shane snorts, and looks back at him. “Really? Why?”

“Because!” Ryan begins, bringing up his hands and letting them fall back onto his lap. “We live in LA, we’re party-central, and we should know how not to make fools of ourselves out on the dance floor.”

“I don’t know, I kinda  _ like _ seeing you make a fool of yourself out on the dance floor,” Shane says with a smile on his face.

Ryan pinches his face at him. “Yeah, whatever. I think I should take a dance class, that way my aunts will stop bullying me at family gatherings.”

Shane laughs. “Do they really?”

“Yeah! They say that I have the rhythm of a rock.”

“No way. I’ve seen you dance, and, yeah, you dance like a typical American, but you don’t have bad moves. They’re acceptable.”

“Not enough for my aunt Gloria. Every gathering, she takes me out to dance, and every time, she always tsks at me, and shakes her head, and says something like, ‘this generation doesn’t know how to dance,’' Ryan says, doing his best aunt Gloria impersonation.

“Alright, so let’s find a studio that’ll teach us actual dancing.”

“Wait, you’d be down to go with me?” Ryan asks. His heart sings at that, and he doesn’t want to unpack all of that.

“Of course! You’re not the only here with no swing, as Raí said.”

“It would be pretty incredible to see you move your gangly legs gracefully.”

“All that leg, and for nothing? Nahh.”

They giggle together, and when Katie stops, and looks over her shoulder to say, “Alright, Madej, here’s you!” they stop, but still smile.

“Bye Ryan, thanks Katie,” Shane says as he clambers out of the car. He walks to his apartment, and waves back at them, then walks through the door, and disappears into the vestibule.

After Katie dropped Ryan off at his house, he took a shower, and got into his pj’s, feeling very sore and hurt after spending most of the afternoon trying to dance and keep step. Flopping onto his bed, he connects his phone, and googles local dance classes.

Lots of salsa options, maybe he should take Shane to a salsa class. He sends Shane a dancing emoji. A few minutes later, Shane sends him the playboy bunnies dancing emoji. Ryan snickers to himself.

As they work on editing the video, Ryan tries to study the salsa classes more. There’s a studio that gives salsa classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, from 7 to 8, and is open to everyone, and only costs fifteen dollars. It seems reasonable, and according to the pictures and videos, seems like a fun and inviting place.

During lunch, he approaches Shane and shows him his phone, saying, “I found a salsa class not too far from here, you wanna go?”

“Sure,” Shane says as he scrolls through. “They have four days, though, what day were you thinking?” He hands him his phone back.

“I thought Saturdays were good? Since Tuesdays and Thursdays are very work-filled, and I’d want Fridays off to just veg about when I get home.”

Shane quirks a smile at that. “Yeah, I get that. Alright, Saturdays sound fine. Do you wanna go together, or do we meet up there?”

“Oh, I could come pick you up! I know you have a thing about driving. I’ll pick you up at six?”

“Perfect! I’ll see you there,” Shane says, and with that, finishes his lunch and gets up to throw away his lunch. Ryan smiles to himself, and when he turns back to face his food, Steven’s looking at him, fork with meat on it hanging suspended in the air. Ryan furrows his eyebrows at him.

“What?”

“I never thought of a dance class as a perfect excuse for a date. That was really smart, Ryan,” Steven says, then finally eats.

“What?!” Ryan squeaks, reddening in the face. “It’s not an excuse! It’s genuinely just a dance class.”

“Is it?” Steven asks, raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah! It is!” Ryan insisted. “What the hell, first the girls at the studio say something about it, then you say something about it.”

“Oh, the dancers said that you two going there to dance is a date?”

“Yes! Is there something about dance culture that I don’t know about that everyone automatically assumes it’s a date?”

“I mean, I guess so, from the Latine perspective, since dancing is a very big part of the culture.”

Ryan looks at him. “How the hell do  _ you _ know that.”

Steven shrugs. “One time, Andrew and I went to this Spanish restaurant, and we were sitting next to this small open space, and this lady came up to it in full flamenco gear, and did a performance. After that, we invited her a drink, and then we started talking, and she taught us a lot.”

“Oh, okay, that’s fair, and cool. What was the restaurant?”

“Sancho Restaurant. Very good food, good service, great performance. You and Shane should go.”

Steven continues eating, and Ryan was gonna leave it at that, but he just heard what Steven meant, and feels very indignant. “Hey!”

Steven chuckles at him.

Saturday comes both far too quickly and infinitely slowly, and Ryan doesn’t know how to feel about that. But he’s true to his word, and he’s parked outside of Shane’s apartment, debating whether or not he should honk his horn to get his attention. He decides he should shoot him a text instead, and receives a thumbs up in response.

He taps his hands on his steering wheel, waiting for Shane to come down. He wonders what Shane’s thinking about, about all of this, wonders what he thinks about all the date comments, if he would even consider this a date.

Ryan looks down at himself. He specifically picked this outfit out so that it didn’t say “I’m on a date,” but now that he pays attention, he realizes that he did exactly that. He’s wearing one of his slimmer button-ups, one of his jeans that gives him more mobility, and comfy shoes. Oh Christ, he’s even wearing a floral shirt. Oh noo.

He looks up just in time to see Shane walk out the vestibule and onto the sidewalk up to his car. He waves at Ryan, and he waves back, unlocking the car for him. Ryan notes that he’s surprisingly wearing a t-shirt and shorts with sneakers, a definitive not date look.

When Shane finally settles in in the passenger seat, he looks at Ryan and smiles at him. “Ready to go dancing?”

Ryan returns his smile, turning his face to the street so that Shane couldn’t see his blush. “I thought I was the one who’s supposed to say that. I’m the one that invited you.” He pulls out and onto the street.

“Well, it was me who arranged for us to go to Estampas, so technically this is all thanks to me.”

Ryan shakes his head. “So I guess you’re gonna be paying for the class, then?”

“Sure, I’ll pay. I tipped the teachers over at Estampas, too.”

“You tipped Raí?”

“No, like, the actual teacher, Eliza. I should’ve tipped Raí, though. They were the one who truly stuck with us, for the most part.”

“We could always go back and tip them.”

“Maybe even get another lesson?”

Ryan laughs. “Yeah, we could even get another lesson.”

The studio is called Daisy Steps, and just as stated, the classes are fifteen dollars for entry. The girl at the entrance tells them the class for beginner’s is towards the front of the room, and their teacher will be Rebeca. When they enter the studio proper, they’re surprised by the sheer size of it. It’s the double of Estampas’ studio.

“There’s so many people here,” Ryan says. Shane shrugs, and pulls him over to the front of the studio, in front of the wall of mirrors.

“It’s okay, Ryan, they’re not gonna look at you, they’ll all be looking at their teachers,” Shane assures.

Ryan looks around. The group in front of the mirrors is full of nervous people like him. There’s a cluster behind them that seems to be more confident in their dancing, and off to the right of them are a few groups and duos that seem to be at another level entirely.

“I guess so.”

“Alright, hello hello, welcome to Daisy Steps!” a lady calls out, walking up to the front of the class, wearing a purple jogging outfit, and her hair in a high ponytail. Ryan can only assume this is Rebeca. She seems upbeat and peppy.

"This is the beginners class, so we're gonna start with just simple steps today! Alright?" She receives a few "yeahs" in return, so she puts her hands on her hips, and smiling, asks again, "Alright?"

"Alright!" the group calls out to her. She claps her hands.

"That's what I like to hear!"

The class then whizzes by as they go from basic step to basic step. Ryan and Shane are pleasantly surprised when they seem to match those of cumbia, the only difference being that salsa has a forwards-and-backwards step.

Rebeca then tells them to find a partner and start practicing the steps together, as salsa is a pairs dance. Ryan and Shane are quick to hold hands, and giggle at themselves for it. They study their feet intently, making sure not to step on each other's toes as they go forwards and backwards, and then left to right. They end up going around in a small circle, something Ryan notices the other couples are doing as well.

Rebeca goes from one pair to another, giving pointers, and when she comes to Ryan and Shane, she says, "Very good! You guys have a good handle on this!"

"Thank you, teenage girls yelled at us a few days ago," Shane explains, and Rebeca laughs.

"Oh no, I hope nothing bad happened," Rebeca says. Shane shrugs.

"We took another dance class for work, and it was only girls, and they kept trying to fix our forms," Ryan continues. He notices that they're just swaying at this point. His hands have also slid up to hold onto Shane’s wrists as well.

Rebeca also notices their lack of movement, and juts her chin at them. They look down and Shane hits his chin on Ryan’s head, yanking his head back at the sudden pain.

“Ow!” he yelps, and grimaces. Ryan reaches up to– to… what? He guesses he was gonna soothe his pain somehow, but his now aborted movement ends with him placing his hand gently on Shane’s cheek. Shane brings up his own hand to rub at his chin, and Ryan lets his hand nervously jump to his shoulder, and down to his elbow.

Rebeca also winces at the pain. “Ouch! Careful not to hurt your boyfriend, there,” she tells Ryan, and he blushes at that.

“I’ll try not to,” he tries, instead.

Shane shakes his head at her. “This guy has hit me so many times since I’ve met him.”

“Oh no!” Rebeca says, smiling at them now. “Well, I’ll leave you two now in case any of his hits land on me, but keep practicing!” she says, and moves away to another pair.

“Practice makes perfect! That way, you can take him dancing!” she calls over her shoulder, and now Ryan and Shane are alone again.

“I’m sorry,” Ryan says, and Shane shakes his head, pulling them back into the steps. Forwards, backwards, backwards, forwards, and to the right.

“Nah, it’s all good, it was an accident,” Shane says. Ryan smiles at him.

The class ended with the beginners getting into a circle, where there would be one stationary partner, and the others would rotate between them, in order to get them used to different partners and rhythms. It was very fun, no one was truly confident in their moves yet, but there was a lot of enthusiasm and reassurances. After that, Ryan and Shane said goodbye to Rebeca, and headed back for their car.

Once seated, Ryan turned on the A/C to full blast, and let the cool air wash over him. He didn’t think he had worked up a sweat there, but it seems that he had. He looks over and sees that Shane is also letting himself cool off. He has a light sheen of sweat on his forehead, and Ryan puts the car in reverse.

“Good class, huh?” Ryan asks some time later.

“Oh yeah, very good!”

“Yeah, you liked it?”

“Yeah! It was very fun, Ry,” Shane says genuinely.

“Thank you!” Ryan replies. They’re in silence for a bit more.

“Would you like to go again?” Ryan asks.

“Oh, we were not?”

Ryan glances at him. “You’d wanna go again?”

“Of course! That’s what a dance class is for, right? To go back and learn?”

Ryan grins at himself. “Yeah. I just, I know I invited you because I kinda didn’t want to be alone, and I wanna go back, I just didn’t know if you were down for it for real or not.”

“Of course I am. I’d love to go back | with you.”

That makes Ryan feel very good and warm right now. He looks over at Shane, and finds him already smiling at him.

“Great, so we can come back next week?”

“Absolutely.”

“Great!”

They do go back every week after that, and they learn so quickly that they’re bumped up to the more advanced team a few weeks later, helmed by Eugenia, the lady that had charged them the fifteen dollars the first time before. She’s apparently married to Daisy herself, whose real name is actually Margarita, and who trains the more advanced, professional dancers.

This intermediate group is smaller and more intimate than the beginner’s group, which takes up nearly half the studio. Here, Eugenia teaches them more twirly moves, demonstrating the twists, turns, and twirls that they’ll be learning over the next few weeks with her assistant, Joaquín.

Ryan thrums with excitement, and when he looks up at Shane, can see that he’s excited too. Shane’s practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, and when Eugenia calls for them to pair up, his hands quickly find Ryan’s, already pulling them closer together.

The first lesson is stepping in arcs, which means letting go of your partner’s hands sometimes. When Eugenia demonstrates, Joaquín and she step in place, left to right, right to left, when they suddenly don’t, and step back a bit more than they had. Eugenia and Joaquín let go of their hands in that moment, and in the next, they join them together before letting their other hands go.

They repeat this before slowing down to show the position of their feet. Their bodies arc away from each other because of their new lines of tension, and they let their outermost hands go.

“See our inner hands? They haven’t let go,” Eugenia points out, pointing to their hands between their bodies, then arcs her arm out. They step back together, and arc their opposite feet out behind them, separating their now outermost hands as they do. They go through it a few more times, and then let go.

“Alright! Let’s go for it now, guys!” Eugenia says, and motions for the pairs to start dancing.

Ryan and Shane had been standing with their arms linked, and when called to action, were slow in separating again. Thankfully for both, they could still hold hands, even if only every other second as they tried to copy what Eugenia and Joaquín had done. Ryan had the same problem with the cumbia step in that he bounced too much as he stepped along.

“You’re bouncing,” Shane points out as he lets go of Ryan’s hand.

“I am?” Ryan asks, looking carefully at his feet. He stepped on Shane’s foot because of that, and he jumped away.

“Yeah you are!” Shane said, wincing as he hopped a bit. Ryan giggled a bit at him, and tried to keep himself farther away, but Shane pulled him back in. With the momentum of the pull, he stepped back from Ryan, but instead of letting go of his hand like what Eugenia taught them, he brought Ryan along, and so they made a half-twirl that had more oomph to it than expected, making them stumble a bit towards the end of their arc, sending them to the floor.

Shane landed hard on his coccyx, and Ryan ended up kneeing him in the gut as he fell, so you could imagine the pain Shane was in.Eugenia and Joaquín were quick to help them, and when Shane flinched as he took a few steps, decided to send them home.

“My ass hurts,” Shane kept saying on the ride to his house.

“I know that,” Ryan kept answering on the ride to Shane’s house. He knows he should feel bad for it, but he can’t help grinning to himself.

“This is all your fault,” Shane says as Ryan half helps him up the stairs to the lobby and into the elevator. “Next time, stop bouncing so much. You basically hurled yourself at me.”

“I don’t know, big guy, I don’t think my bouncing had anything to do with that,” Ryan says as the doors slide open. He hovers the minimal polite amount around Shane as they make their way to his apartment.

“What else could it have possibly been?” Shane asks, opening the door for them. He steps in carefully, and gracefully falls onto his couch. Ryan closes the door behind him, and goes to sit next to Shane, who puts his legs into his lap. Ryan holds them close.

“It was because when I pulled away, so that I wouldn’t keep stepping on your big feet, you pulled me back in, and that was what made us fall,” Ryan explains.

Shane looks at him, and shrugs. “Semantics. I only pulled you back to me because salsa is not danced at arms’ length, it’s chest to chest.”

“Your dedication to the proper dancing technique is greater than what I had imagined.”

“What can I say? I’m a stickler for the rules,” Shane says with a wave of his hands.

Ryan hums at his response, but gets to thinking. His hand smooths circles into Shane’s ankle.

“So…” he begins carefully. “If it weren’t for the class, you wouldn’t wanna dance chest-to-chest with me?”

He looks over at Shane, and finds him with an unreadable look in his eyes. Shane had his arm propped up against the headrest, but he lets it go lax, and lay across it, with his hand near Ryan’s head. His fingers lift as if they were going to touch him, but retract. He brings his hands to his lap, instead.

“I’d want to dance chest-to-chest with you,” Shane says, voice soft.

Ryan smiles at that, and decides to reach over to grab one of Shane’s hands in his. He rubs his thumb on his purlicue. Shane drops his head a bit, trying to hide his pinkening cheeks.

“I guess I should take you dancing, then,” Ryan says. Shane cracks a grin at him.

“Wait till my butt heals.”

“Your butt’s fine, Shane.”

“Oh, but I’m gonna have such a  _ large _ bruise.”

“Take it easy, big guy.”

They giggle at themselves.


End file.
